• About this Book
• About the Author
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• Table of Contents

Written by Dan Rockmore

• Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon
• On Sale: April 5, 2005
• Price: $25.00
• ISBN: 978-0-375-42136-5 (0-375-42136-X)

about this book

In 1859 a German professor named Bernhard Riemann postulated a law capable of describing with an amazing degree of accuracy the baffling occurrence of prime numbers; coming up with its proof has been the holy grail of mathematicians ever since. In Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis, Dan Rockmore, a prominent mathematician in his own right, takes us from Euclid’s pondering of the infinitude of the primes through modern efforts to prove the Riemann hypothesis–efforts that astonishingly connect the primes to the statistics of solitaire, chaos theory, and even the mysteries of quantum mechanics. Along the way, he introduces us to the many brilliant and fascinating thinkers who have contributed to this work, from the most famous mathematician of all time, Carl Friedrich Gauss (Riemann’s teacher), to the intellectual giants David Hilbert and Freeman Dyson.

A lively, comprehensive, and accessible examination of one of the most compelling unsolved problems in mathematics, Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis tells us the full story of the quest to find that elusive solution.

“It may be an arcane puzzle about the array of prime numbers, but the Riemann hypothesis is also hugely important, and its story has spawned many excellent books. Dan Rockmore’s Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis is a fine addition. Much of the content may be familiar, but Rockmore’s style, emphasis and language are all admirably fresh, and it is fully accessible to non-specialists. Of course, we are still waiting for the final chapter in the story —that someone proves the hypothesis—but Rockmore is an excellent guide to take you right to the edge of the mathematical map, and he’s bang up to date.” —New Scientist